Chapter 1: The Goddess and the Summoning

Chapter 1:
The Goddess and the Summoning

 

“YOU’RE TRYIN’ TO TELL ME we’re in another world?! What the hell?!”

Oyamada’s voice echoed around the dim, stone-carved room, which was more than big enough to hold all of class 2-C.

When I’d first opened my eyes, I found myself and my entire class here, in a room decked out in what looked like antiques, or maybe props from some medieval fantasy movie. Niches in the walls held lamps that illuminated the stone room with a warm glow.

“You have all been chosen!” a voice rang out.

“Huh?! You better tell me what’s goin’ on, right now!” Oyamada demanded, practically foaming at the mouth.

Before him stood a woman in a tiara who seemed completely unfazed by his outburst.

She’s definitely got guts.

The woman had soft skin and light gray hair, and her eyes—were they gold? Color contacts, maybe? But my eyes were especially drawn to her clothes, which were neat, immaculate…and barely there. She wore a scant robe, almost like a western Goddess you’d see in a painting…or maybe if that Goddess had been drawn by a character artist from an anime studio.

“Of course, let me explain. I am the one who summoned you here, after all,” she said. “I am the Goddess Vicius.”

Hang on—a goddess?

Some of the boys started whispering frantically.

“Whoa, so this is, like, one of those isekai stories?”

“Totally!”

“C’mon, it’s a dream, dude.”

“Then how’re we all having the same dream?”

“It’s way too realistic for that.”

So…it’s the trope where the whole class gets summoned, huh?

“Why couldn’t I get brought here alone?!”

“Ugh, I feel you.”

“Yeah, she didn’t choose me, she just grabbed the whole bus. It sucks.”

I’d heard of books and anime like that—isekai stories, where regular people get teleported to—or even reborn into—a fantasy world.

At least we didn’t all end up as babies in this one…

Some of the girls were panicking.

“Where the heck are we?! I don’t get what’s happening!”

“We were, like, on a bus, right?”

“Are we dead?! Am I a freakin’ ghost right now?!”

“All right, you got me! Where’s the camera?”

“Huh?! My phone, like, won’t turn on!”

“Where’s my stuff? You can’t expect me to go without my makeup and outfits!”

I guess I should just go with it for now. If this is a dream, I’ll wake up eventually.

“…”

I reached up and touched my face, then pinched my cheek, hard.

Ouch.

I guess it’s not a dream…but the timing of this whole thing worked out great for me. Looks like everybody already forgot what happened back on the bus.

I looked around. A few dozen men dressed like cliché RPG guards stood around us in a circle, armed with swords and spears.

No use resisting, then…

The whole class was unarmed, of course. Even with Kirihara’s athletic prowess, Oyamada’s brawn, Sogou’s martial arts, and whatever mysterious fighting skills the Takao sisters were rumored to have, it would be suicide to try to overwhelm the armed guards. There was no way our homeroom teacher Zakurogi would try anything, either—the only person you could count on for an outburst was Oyamada.

Zakurogi stood up.

“I don’t understand what’s going on here,” he proclaimed, in a voice that tried to bring us all in line, “but we should clearly listen to what this Goddess has to say!” His attempt at leadership was undermined by the way he kept stealing glances at the Goddess’s chest—even in another world, Zakurogi was still the same guy.

“Thank you, Sensei,” the Goddess said with a neat smile. “If you are all ready, please allow me to explain.”

And she started weaving a tale right out of a fantasy novel. Apparently there was an evil being—called “the Demon King,” or something—who had been resurrected recently. Whenever that happened, the Kingdom of Alion would summon heroes from “the other world” to be “the chosen ones” and take care of it. The last summoning was 200 years ago, so their existence was more folklore than anything.

This ability to summon heroes gave Alion a special reputation throughout the continent—since nobody knew when the Lord of Evil would return, they had to stay on Alion’s good side. Even more respected than the Kingdom was the Goddess Vicius, source of those summoned heroes. Not even the King of Alion could lay a finger on members of the Cult of Vicius.

Of everyone assembled before the Goddess, of course Kirihara Takuto felt that he had the right to speak.

“So, you want us to defeat this Demon King, I guess?”

“That is correct,” came the Goddess’s answer.

“Hunh. And what if we don’t?”

“Then you may never return home.”

“There’s a way to go back?”

“There is, but only if you defeat the Demon King.”

“Why?” Kirihara asked bluntly.

The Goddess signaled for one of her guards, who handed her a jet-black collar.

“To send you back, I require Demon King Essence. This is a very special kind of magical power.” She raised two fingers. “We know of only two ways to obtain it. The first is to get it directly from the source—the Demon King’s heart. The second is to defeat the Demon King and gather the essence in crystal form when he dies, using this collar. I cannot perform the ceremony to return you to your world without the essence in some form.”

“I don’t give a damn about your stupid kingdom or your Demon King! What’d he ever do to me, anyway?! Screw this!” Oyamada yelled. Clearly, learning the full story hadn’t chilled him out.

The Goddess got to her knees and knelt before him.

“Heroes, I humbly entreat you. Please, save this world,” she begged.

“H-heroes? I-I’m a hero too?” Oyamada seemed shocked. Maybe it was because he was so used to being treated like a naughty kid by authority figures, or just because it felt good to be called a hero by a beautiful Goddess, but Oyamada calmed instantly.

“You are our saviors—each and every one of you,” she declared.

“E-excuse me…” Sogou raised her hand as she spoke. “Can I ask something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Um… M-my name is Sogou Ayaka,” said Sogou, bowing her head.

“Oh! How very polite of you, Sogou-san.”

“N-not at all.”

“Please, go on. What would you like to ask?”

“A-as you can see, we’re all normal human beings. I doubt that any of us have experience in battle.”

Yeah…even Sogou’s martial arts skills probably won’t do much in a real fight to the death…

“So, well…you keep calling us heroes and saviors, but…I honestly don’t know if we’ll be able to help you at all.”

“That won’t be a problem,” the Goddess replied with complete certainty. “All of you have special powers. Powers that other humans do not possess.”

“But…” Sogou stammered, “we don’t. I don’t understand…?”

“Of course you don’t believe that you have powers,” she continued at the same unhurried pace. “You didn’t…until I summoned you here.”

I don’t know how to describe it, but…it seems like she knows exactly what Sogou’s going to say before she says it. She said that she’s summoned heroes to save the world before, right? Do they all react just like this at first? Is she used to answering these exact questions in the exact same way every time—even the same words?

“I can’t take it!!” Oyamada shouted. “There’s no way in hell this is really another world. You’ve got us on camera right now, don’t you?! It ain’t even funny! Who writes this stuff? I’ll kill ’em!”

“Bring it forth.” Ignoring Oyamada’s outburst, the Goddess gestured to her guards again.

After some time, a ragged-looking man was escorted into the room. His hands were bound in chains, and he looked uneasy, flanked by guards on each side who pushed him forward with the points of their spears.

“Wh-what is that?” asked one of the girls, pointing across the room from the figure with trembling hands.

It wasn’t a person.

It was a three-eyed wolf.

At least, I think that’s a wolf…

The creature was enormous, with three flashing golden eyes and wine-red fur. It wore a rough collar attached to a heavy chain, which was gripped tightly by a particularly beefy guard.

“This sort of beast doesn’t exist in your world, does it?” the Goddess asked.

“Y-you obviously just painted a wolf! Screw you, that’s a costume or something! Just die already!” Oyamada had clearly made up his mind.

The Goddess gave another signal.

“Grrr… Grrrawrrr!!”

The ragged man flinched as he realized what was about to happen.

“No!! S-sto—!”

The three-eyed wolf leaped to the attack, claws tearing into its prey.

“Aaaaaah—!!”

One of the girls screamed, and the shrill noise echoed through the stone chamber.

“Urraaagh! Guuh! Aaah—”

The man’s screams stopped abruptly, and he lay still. The wolf began feeding on the corpse, tearing at flesh with its teeth.

One of the boys threw up.

What happened next, though, would kill all our doubts.

The Goddess stretched her arm toward the wolf and began to speak.

“Oh exorcising holy fire, in the name of the Goddess Vicius fulfil your duty and purge this monster!”

A shimmering circle formed in the air in front of her outstretched hand.

“Fireball!”

In an instant, the wolf was engulfed in white fire. It struggled and writhed as it tried to escape, but it was quickly consumed by the inferno and burnt to ash. The smell of charred meat filled the room.

The boys, who’d all gathered off to one side, started murmuring to each other.

“Th-that was real magic just now, wasn’t it?”

“You mean sorcery?”

“Wh-what’s the difference…?”

“So she was telling the truth about the ‘other world’ thing, huh…”

“She brought out that proof quick, oh man.”

“That was incredible! I’m still in shock…”

“It’s kinda exciting…!”

It was weird—they didn’t seem that upset. They were acting like this was a fun way to shake up their boring everyday routine.

On the other hand, some of the girls had started to cry. Others sank to the floor in fear where they stood. Most were just in shock.

“Wh-what was that…?”

“It’s gotta be CG. Or a light trick, or something. Right?”

“Urgh…that burned meat smell… I feel sick.”

“No…!”

“I…I can’t take it anymore! I wanna go home…”

Even Kirihara looked shocked. Not afraid, of course, but he looked genuinely surprised by what had happened. Oyamada just looked angry, but for once it was at himself. He’d been clinging to the idea that this all had to be fake, but he’d been unmistakably proven wrong. Being forced to accept this reality made him furious.

Sogou was in a cold sweat, clearly shaken but trying desperately to hide it. She was comforting one of the crying girls, making soothing noises about how everything was going to be fine. She probably felt that she had to stay strong as class rep.

Even at a time like this…Sogou’s tough.

The elder Takao sister started talking to her twin.

“I see…so this truly is a completely different world from our own. Perhaps thinking of it as a different planet will help us understand for the moment. So, treating that as the truth, we need to consider our best course of action, Itsuki.”

“You’re so composed in a situation like this…you’re amazing, Aneki,” Itsuki replied.

“Just think of this as part of your mental training. Instead of wasting our time on pessimism and panic, trying to deny the reality that’s clearly before us, we should accept this situation and analyze the rules of our new surroundings to ensure our safety. We must not let our logical thought be hampered by emotion or made dull by excessive sentiment. Right now, we should only carry as many emotions as are absolutely indispensable.”

“I…I just can’t beat you, Aneki. I’ll never reach your level…”

“Just keep training hard, Itsuki. You can do it.”

“All right…I’ll do my best, Aneki.”

They’re acting so calm…like, extreme levels of calm. Though I guess they’re practically from a different planet to begin with.

Yasu seemed bewildered, but looking closer…there was a faint smile spreading on his lips.

That seems weird…

Zakurogi’s expression was easier to understand—his jaw was hanging open like that “Mouth of Truth” statue that people stick their hands in.

“Uh…let’s do what the Goddess asks! We won’t get anywhere unless we decide to trust her, so we should assume that everything she’s told us is true!” Zakurogi sputtered, his terror at the spontaneous combustion he just witnessed clear in his voice. If he’d had a way to get a big white flag, he’d probably be waving it frantically.

The man’s corpse and the ashes that were once the wolf were swept away and carried off somewhere else. We were ushered to a waist-high pedestal with a crystal set on it, and ordered to put our hands on it one by one—some kind of test.

Even our worst troublemakers were quietly following orders now. As the Goddess prepared to call us up by our class numbers, a few hooded attendants approached to help her. This Goddess had thrown in our faces exactly how much danger we were in—I, at least, had zero desire to resist her, and I could only assume the rest of the class felt the same.

I wonder what she’d do if I did? Maybe she’d get me with that fire spell…she seems like somebody who gets what she wants by any means necessary, and she’s obviously got the power to back it up.

First in line, Amakawa laid his hands on the crystal. After a moment, it glowed with a blue light, and a murmur rose from the gallery. The Goddess smiled and clasped her hands together.

“You have potential,” she said.

The hooded other-worlders who surrounded the Goddess strained to inspect us, their eyes gleaming in the light of the crystal as each of our classmates took their turn. The tests continued much the same, until Oyamada’s turn.

As he touched the crystal, it glowed a blinding red under his hands—the brightest light so far.

What do the colors mean?

“Such strong light!” the hooded figures cried out in praise.

“Oh!” the Goddess exclaimed joyfully, “this is positively wonderful!”

“I don’t really get it, but…I guess I aced the test, huh? I could get used to this other-world gig! Oyamada is hot stuff over here! Guess I’ll just have to be hero enough for all of ya!”

Oh god…“hot stuff”? He’s acting like an obnoxious jerk, as usual…but I can’t totally blame him. That glowing rock thing just told him he’s the best. Who wouldn’t be happy to hear that?

Oyamada got to be king for the day—for maybe thirty minutes. Then Kirihara laid his hands on the crystal.

“I-impossible! Th-this can’t be…! H-how…?!”

There was flash of golden light—the hooded figures jumped back in surprise.

Ka-crack!

The crystal shattered and fell to the floor in pieces.

“T-to think someone could break the measurement crystal!” one of the hooded figures exclaimed, excitedly wiping sweat from his brow.

“Whatever. So that was good, was it? I’m not surprised.” Kirihara deadpanned.

The Goddess smiled broadly and clapped her hands together.

“This is marvellous, Kirihara-san! You’re an S-Class, the highest rank possible!” she declared.

S-Class? Sounds pretty important.

“I thought this was another world—you still give alphabet grades here?” Kirihara asked suspiciously.

“I’ve used terms you’re familiar with to make this easier for you to understand,” she replied.

“Hmm. Why’s S-Class the highest?”

“The ‘S’ stands for ‘special’, of course.”

Kirihara scratched his head.

“Hunh. Right…it’s not like I did anything special to get it, though. I just touched the crystal, same as everyone else.”

Kirihara’s circle of fans gazed at him with even more admiration.

“He’s so cool! I knew he’d get the best rank!”

“Takuto-kun is still someone special in a whole other world~! ♪”

“He’s so wonderful!”

“Protect me, Takuto-kun!”

Kirihara let out an exasperated sigh.

“Breaking some crystal doesn’t make me special…it’s just a thing that happened, yeah?”

Oyamada sidled up to the Goddess.

“Wh-what class am I, then?! I’m hot stuff, right?!”

“You’re an A-Class, Oyamada-san.”

“And what’s above A?!”

“That would be S-Class.”

“One step away from the top…” he said, gritting his teeth. “Aw man, figures I can’t match up to Takuto…”

The Goddess signaled for another crystal to be brought in, and the fragments of the old one were swept away.

The measurements continued.

“N-not possible-! This is—”

Another wave of disbelief rippled through the hooded figures when Sogou Ayaka took her turn. Her light pulsed brilliant silver, and…

BOOM!

The orb shattered into dust, sending a cloud of fine powder in all directions.

“Cough, cough—Th-the crystal…again?! I’ve never seen a reaction like this, Goddess!” one of the hooded figures spluttered.

The Goddess smiled again, elegantly wafting the dust away from her face.

“Two S-Class heroes in one group…this is truly remarkable.”

Sogou and Kirihara have the same power rating, then… They really are 2-C’s main characters.

One replacement crystal later, the measurements were back underway. The next surprises were the Takao sisters—though they really weren’t that surprising, I guess. Itsuki’s light glowed yellow, shining much brighter than all the students before her. I could see the Goddess’s excitement rising.

“Another A-Class—this makes two! Astonishing, truly! Two S-Class and two A-Class heroes…this group already has the greatest potential I’ve ever seen!”

Next, Takao Hijiri laid her hands on the crystal, spreading white light that illuminated the whole room with its glow for a long moment before fading.

“Th-this is incredible…” the Goddess said with wide eyes, trembling with excitement like jelly in an earthquake. “Th-three S-Class heroes…! We’re usually lucky to get one! These are the best results I’ve ever seen!” With tears in her eyes, she spread her arms wide in ecstasy, puffing out her ample chest in triumph.

So I guess she’s prone to overacting.

“Well then, let us continue! Next, if you would!” she called out with another elaborate sweeping gesture.

After Takao, the results all came out average for a while, and the responses from the onlookers were much less enthusiastic.

At last, it was my turn—Mimori Touka.

I stood in front of the crystal, nervous, feeling measured and probed. I slipped my hands over the surface of the orb.

I swallowed hard.

Beneath my hands, a faint light rose within the crystal. It was soft—weak, even. Purple in color.

Gold, sliver, black, white…those were colors that I thought of as having special meaning.

Purple, huh…

Mine was the only purple result so far.

What does this mean…? This is the weakest light anyone’s had so far, isn’t it?

“Next! Place your hands upon the crystal!”

The Goddess didn’t even react—she moved on, ignoring me completely. It was the first time that had happened, too.

I don’t even deserve a comment? Seriously?

“Excuse me, but…is my class—” I tried to say.

“Next~!”

Ignored. Again. It’s like I’m not even here.

I walked slowly back to my place.

A background character. Even in this world, that’s all I get, huh?

This is reality, though. Not like being summoned to another world would make a guy like me special. This is who I am.

I’m Mimori Touka. That should be enough. But there’s always a hierarchy, in every time and every place. It’s always there, and you can never escape it.

My test was followed by a handful more average results—all apparently better than mine, at least. The Goddess kept up her busy commentary on each measurement, even if she ended up repeating “Oh, how splendid!” more than a few times.

At long last, the final student stepped forward to be measured.

“It seems we found all the big hitters in the first half,” she said, raising a hand to her cheek. “But three S-Class and two A-Class heroes…? Simply marvelous. I can’t expect more—that would be greedy!”

The final student was Yasu Tomohiro. He placed his shaky hand on the crystal, took a deep breath, and swallowed. Watching him, though, I could see a quiet confidence hidden beneath the anxiety. It was like Yasu knew that his fate was in the orb’s hands, and accepting that gave him a kind of calm.

The hooded figures recoiled in shock.

“It…it can’t be!”

The orb was ingulfed in jet black, sending billowing dark smoke up into the rafters.

“Goddess! H-he might be…”

“It appears so. It has been a long time since I’ve seen the crystal react this way…not since the Hero of Darkness upset it all those years ago.”

Yasu’s mouth curled into a smile, which widened into a smirk. Then he let out a peal of laughter.

“I knew it… It was about time,” Yasu said. A sudden change had come over him—in an instant, the nervous Yasu I’d known had disappeared. Boldly, he turned to the Goddess.

“Tell me my rank, Goddess!”

“You are an A-Class hero,” she answered.

“Hmph. Same as Oyamada. I figured that sinister black smoke would make it at least an S, but still…”

Oyamada drew himself up indignantly, and turned on Yasu.

“What was that, Yasu?! You wanna try again, but show some respect this time? You get some half-decent results and you’re a big man all of a sudden?!”

For a moment, Yasu drew back—maybe out of habit. But he recovered quickly and returned a rebellious smile.

“We’re on the same level, you and I.”

“Huh?!”

Now it was Yasu’s turn. He puffed out his chest and closed in on Oyamada.

“We’re both A-Class heroes, huh? Equals. So why not get along?” He grinned rebelliously, his voice mocking. “How about it, Oyamada~?”

“You think you’re better than me?! I’ll kill you, Yasu! I’ll—!”

In an instant, the Goddess was between them, magic circles appearing from her hands again.

It’s almost like she’s holding them at gunpoint…

“You’re both fine A-Class heroes, so spare me the rivalry. I’ll allow minor disagreements, but I absolutely won’t permit heroes to fight one another. Is that clear?”

The Goddess smiled.

“All of our A-Class heroes are valuable resources to me, after all.”

Oyamada was frozen. Yasu took a step back. My spine was tingling just watching them.

Was she really about to kill them both?

I know I’m intimidated by her, but it’s more than that… This must be how it feels to come face to face with a predator. I’m frozen. I don’t even want to run.

“Then that’s settled, isn’t it? Now, let me show you how to use your powers.”

 

“Status Open!”

Those words echoed in all directions, overlapping and mingling in the air.

Saying that phrase made patterns appear across the palm of your hand, and a holographic-looking display appear over it.

“I get it! This is how we check our skills, right? It’s just like a game!”

“Here comes the isekai stat display trope!”

“What’s this thing? Is it the skill tree?”

“None of this looks real, though, does it? Like, it’d fit in perfectly in a VRMMO!”

The boys were chatting excitedly as they poked at their new displays.

“Hey, nerds—we don’t know much about games, so you’d better teach us, got it?”

“It works kinda like a smartphone… We can do this, right?”

“It totally looks like a social network game, right? Do my log-in bonuses from my games back home carry over?”

“At least there’s no beauty trait or anything!”

“What’s a skill?”

“They’re, like, special moves, I think?”

“Whoa, like a one-hit kill? That’s totally psycho!”

“Oh, I get it! Get rid of the ‘S’ and you’ve got ‘K-I-L-L’! That’s so scary!”

A few minutes ago, those same girls had been crying over the wolf incident. Some of them had even thrown up.

Back on their feet already, huh? That was fast.

“I have created an efficient stat system that should be easy for you to adjust to. As Goddess, I can easily make this sort of alteration to suit your needs and translate your new abilities into something you understand.”

That explained why everything seemed so much like a video game—everyone in class had at least some experience with that kind of thing. The stat display even had a smartphone-style home screen.

I could get used to this stuff. I guess a Goddess can do pretty much anything.

“Th-this is…Dragonic Buster?!” a hooded figure exclaimed, looking over Kirihara’s shoulder in amazement. “Incredible! Kirihara-dono can already use one of his skills! And these stats…is this really a level 1 ability?!”

“So, uh…you’re saying I’m good?” Kirihara responded.

“Heroes who can use their skills immediately from level 1 are rare—I can only remember a few from previous summonings!”

“Huh. Doesn’t sound like that big a deal, to be honest.”

His gaggle of girls turned to him again in worship and longing.

“Takuto’s so awesome…”

“Even his personality’s hot! Oh, Kirihara-kun…!”

“He’s so humble!”

“Even in another world, we can count on him!”

“I want to be with you! Marry me!”

The next outburst from the hooded figures came from near Sogou.

“S-Sogou-dono’s skill tree! I’ve never seen just one branch like this before! This is a Specialist tree!”

“Specialist…?” replied Sogou.

Sogou didn’t seem to know much about games—she was still struggling with the vocabulary.

Well, it’s not like I know what a Specialist tree is either. It sounds impressive, though.

“Oyamada-dono and Yasu-dono are true A-Class heroes, too! Their stats are far beyond those of the normal ranks, even at level 1! And Oyamada-dono has +500 Vitality!” the Goddess chimed in. She segued right into an explanation of more statistics.

Apparently, the stats displayed weren’t the only things that defined how good we were. We had base stats and stat modifiers, but only the modifiers were visible on our stat screens. Our base stat was from before we were summoned—a representation of our strength back on Earth. Add the stat modifier to the base stat, and that’s your current stat in that category.

Does that mean we could go down to zero HP and still survive because of our hidden base stat? Hmm…

The stat explanation led into Q&A Corner with the Goddess, and that was when the discussion really changed. There were no more questions about the summoning we’d just experienced. Instead, everyone was focused on their own stats and learning more about this new world.

Well, everyone strong was stepping up to learn more. Others had lost the will to go on, and gathered together in the corner of the room, fading into the background.

Collapsing into despair. Wallowing in sadness. Unable to accept reality.

There were many ways to find yourself in that corner…

“I can’t get a good look!” another hooded figure complained. I glanced over to see the complainer hovering near the Takao sisters.

“Wh-what’s with these two? It’s like…they exude some strange presence…”

“They’re beautiful, too—almost as beautiful as Sogou-dono! I daresay they may be as heavenly as the renowned Seras Ashrain!”

“Be careful not to underestimate them—they are heroes ranked S-Class and A-Class!”

It seemed that even the people of this world were repelled by the unique aura the Takao sisters brought with them everywhere. The hooded figures were trying to catch glimpses of their stats from several steps away.

The Takao sisters are even trouble for these guys, eh?

The older sister calmly observed her pursuers.

“If it can bring us a way to return to our world, then learning to use this strange stat system to our advantage should be our immediate goal, Itsuki. Once we are allowed to wander freely, we will gather more information.”

“I’m a dummy, so I’ll just follow you, Aneki,” Itsuki replied.

“Knowing your own ignorance is the first step to enlightenment, Itsuki.”

“Heh heh, can’t help that I was brawn this way”

“That was very amusing, Itsuki.”

“A-amusing… You’re always so serious, Aneki…”

“I’m a serious person, I suppose.”

Are they fazed at all by what happened…? I’ve gotta learn to be more like them.

“Status open!”

Let’s take a look… My stats are…

“Huh?”

 

Too-ka Mimori

Level 1

HP: +3 MP: +33

Attack: +3 Defense: +3 Vitality: +3

Speed: +3 Intelligence: +3

Title: E-Class Hero

 

My stats look…really low.

She said that Oyamada has +500 vitality, right? My MP’s the only one higher than three…

E-Class Hero…if that’s alphabetical, I must be pretty far down the list.

My heart sank.

They even misspelled my name—it’s Touka, with a “U.” And the weird dash makes it look like I’m a foreigner…maybe it’s tied to the pronunciation over here? But seriously, even as a chosen hero in another world, they can’t be bothered to get my name right. I’m a background character through and through.

Where’s the skill tree, anyway?

I stared, as if something would appear if I looked longer.

“There isn’t one,” I sighed.

I tried flicking down like everybody else, but nothing showed up—just an empty space. There was only the root at the bottom, a square labeled “Unique Skills.” Everyone else had a simple branching diagram extending upward, laying out all their skills, but mine was just a stump.

“There’s not even a sprout on mine, huh.”

“Oh, my!” the Goddess exclaimed.

“Wha—?!”

I suddenly noticed her behind me, leaning over my shoulder to see the stat screen in my hand.

“Excuse me, but…what’s wrong with my stats?” I asked.

No answer. She returned silently to the others and began answering their questions again.

“Ignored, huh?”

We grown-ups have a right to reject your questions. You got that?

Those were words of wisdom from my old teacher, T***gawa-sensei. It seemed like they applied here, too.

“Even here, I’m just a background character.”

Who cares? E-Class seems pretty low, but I’m still a hero, right? I’m sure there’s a place for me here, somewhere. I’ll just live in the background of this world, like an NPC or something. I’ll lie low and get by, just like I always have.

I sat cross-legged on the ground in thought, idly flicking through my stat panels.

“Oh, so that’s how it works.”

If I click here, it displays my unique skills, I guess.

“Let me see…”

 

Unique Skill: Apply Status Effect / Available for use

 

Huh. Kirihara gets “Dragonic Buster,” and I get “Apply Status Effect.” Mine sounds pretty dull in comparison.

“Hmm? Is my skill tree…backwards?”

I tried flicking up.

“Hey, it’s growing in the other direction.”

Everyone else’s trees were growing upwards, but mine was made up of a few faint lines wilting below the root—so faint I hadn’t noticed them at first. But even though the lines were faint, the information about the skills themselves was clear.

 

Paralyze: Level 1

Sleep: Level 1

Poison: Level 1

 

So I’ve got three of these “Apply Status Effect” skills…?

I used to play social network games and RPGs sometimes, so the skill names at least seemed familiar.

The question is whether they’re any good or not. I’m E-Class, so they probably suck, right? But didn’t one of those hooded guys say that being able to use your skills at level 1 was amazing? All right…you can do this…time to ask the Goddess what’s up. Where is she?

She was talking to somebody—not one of those hooded people, though. I reflexively ducked behind a pillar.

Ugh, why am I hiding like this? Getting ignored twice really did a number on me, I guess. Gotta be brave here…deep breath.

Okay, I’m ready.

I gathered all my courage and resolve to come out from behind the pillar, and…couldn’t even take a step in her direction.

“I heard there’s an E-Class mixed in there.”

They’re talking about me?

“What should we do, Vicius?”

He’s using a Goddess’s first name…? Who is that?

“Don’t worry. Even the E-Class heroes have a part to play,” she replied.

 

Ten minutes later, I couldn’t help but notice that there were way more guards hanging around. There were at least thirty more than when I last checked…and the new ones looked even tougher than the originals.

Their numbers, and the expressions on the new guards faces, spoke volumes—they definitely weren’t going to let us escape.

Or maybe…they aren’t going to let me, specifically, escape?

Guards were clearly watching me—they were making their way toward me from the left and right.

“Be warned—none of you try anything,” a guard to my right began, gripping the hilt of his sword. “You may be heroes from another world, but freshly summoned like this, you’re no match for us.”

So they’ll cut us down if we step out of line…

“Heroes~! Please move into the next room!” the Goddess ordered. The class filed in behind her as she turned to lead us away.

“E-everyone…listen to what the Goddess says, okay…?”

Zakurogi was still half-heartedly trying to lead the class, but most of them were blatantly ignoring him. His crystal measurement test had classified him as D-Class—the Goddess had explained that adults over 25 were more likely to slip into the lower ranks, which was why they usually targeted younger people for summoning.

The low ranking had caused a change in Zakurogi—his self-assured leadership from earlier was totally gone, and the students had almost entirely stopped looking to him for any kind of guidance. Why would they? He was lower on this new hierarchy than they were, and it’s not like he’d endeared himself to the class with his personality or teaching skills back on earth. The Goddess had easily stepped into the role of our homeroom teacher.

We were led into a room with what looked like a large magic circle pattern on the floor.

“Would the student whose name I call please step forward into the center of the circle?” the Goddess announced. “Oh, and after this final matter is taken care of, you’ll all have some time to relax!”

That last declaration was met with smiles and tangible relief—no doubt everyone’s heads had been spinning since we got here. Finally, they’d get a break from all this.

Oyamada raised his hand.

“What’s this room for, anyway?”

“The ceremony,” replied the Goddess.

“Ceremony? Are you going to summon someone else here, then?” Kirihara asked.

She lightly clapped her hands together and smiled.

“Too-ka Mimori-san,” she announced. “Please step into the center of the circle.”

“Huh…? Me?”

I remembered what the Goddess had said earlier…

“Don’t worry. Even the E-Class heroes have a part to play.”

I swallowed.

What does she want me to do…?

“Nnh!” I stood there frozen, terrified of taking that step.

“Go.” I felt a spearpoint press into my back from one of the guards. “You want to die?”

There’s nowhere to run…I have such a bad feeling about this, but I couldn’t fight back if I wanted to.

Escorted by guards, I made my way into the magic circle. I gathered my courage and spoke.

“Excuse me, Goddess?”

“Yes?” she replied.

At least she isn’t ignoring me this time. I guess it’s harder to get away with that when everyone’s focused on me.

“What is this? Why am I going first?”

“Too-ka Mimori, of all the heroes of class 2-C, you are the lowest ranked.”

Yeah, I know. I’m the only E-Class, right?

“Since the beginning of time, the lowest ranked heroes have never been of any use whatsoever. Instead, they tend to cling to their higher-ranked peers and pull them down through their incompetence. So, eventually, I decided that all heroes who fall into E-Class…are to be eliminated.”

“Wh-what…?”

Eliminated…?

“Unfortunately, doing that here and now would give the other summoned heroes an unpleasant shock—some of them might have an inconvenient attachment to you, after all. In the past, I tried transporting the E-Class heroes to a jail cell here in the palace to kill them in secret, but even then, the news got out and caused trouble among the heavy hitters. So that’s why I settled upon…” the Goddess opened her arms magnanimously, “giving the lowest ranked heroes a chance to redeem themselves.”

“A chance to redeem myself…? Wh-what does that mean?”

“This magic circle of teleportation will send you into the ruins,” she declared.

“Ruins…?”

“If you manage to find your way through the ruins to the surface, I promise not to interfere with you any further. Alion will grant you your life.”

“A-are these ruins…dangerous?”

“Who knows? Well, most of Alion’s dangerous criminals are sent there to serve their sentences, but—I don’t need to answer such questions from you~.”

Is she…actually serious…?

Even if the Goddess was trying to be vague, the answer was pretty clear—nobody would return from the ruins alive. It was a landfill—a convenient way to kill off prisoners without having to pull the trigger yourself. The ruins would do the job for you.

Or maybe more monsters like that three-eyed wolf thing.

“Perhaps you don’t fully understand your situation. I’m sure the name of the ruins will help,” the Goddess said slowly and deliberately. “They are called…the Ruins of Disposal.”

I hung my head and clenched my fists.

Disposal…why is this happening…?

“Oh!”

There’s still something—a last ray of hope! This might save me!

“Goddess!”

“Yes?”

“I have something to tell you! M-my skill! I can already use my unique skill!”

The Goddess put a hand to her cheek.

“And…?”

Huh? Why isn’t she reacting…

“I-I checked the stat panel, and it says ‘available for use’! That’s good, isn’t it?!”

“If it were an A-Class skill, perhaps…”

“My skill is called ‘Apply Status Effect’! I think it lets me, like, paralyze or poison things—”

The Goddess just sighed.

“Listen here…in this world, status effect spells are almost completely worthless.”

Time froze.

“Huh…?”

Worthless?

“They hardly ever work. They rarely succeed when used on the lowest-level monsters, let alone anything mid-level or higher. And even if you miraculously get one to stick, the effects are minor and the duration extremely short. They have worked like that every single time.”

“Th-that can’t be—”

“In other words, you drew a losing hand, as befitting an E-Class hero.” She idly played with her hair as she continued. “And I have to say, your stat modifiers are absolutely abysmal. There’s no hope that they’ll improve much even with leveling—it wouldn’t surprise me if you improve even slower than a completely average human.”

Then…why did you call me a hero? You bring me here, you call me a hero…then you throw me away, just like that?!

“B-but wait! Isn’t disposal a little too—”

“Ugh.”

I was interrupted by a sound of disgust.

“This is pathetic.”

It was Kirihara.

“You’re wasting my time. I could be doing anything else right now, but I have to listen to you? We left you alone when you were skulking around in the background, and this is how you repay us?” He let out an irritated sigh. “Just get this over with already. Everybody’s waiting on you. The girls are tired, see? I feel sorry for them—
don’t you?”

The girls looked positively enthralled by his words.

“K-Kirihara-kun!”

“He’s so kind!”

“It’s like he knows exactly what we want before we even have to say it! So considerate!”

“Who does that Mimori-kun think he is, anyway?! He needs to read the atmosphere in here!”

“Ha, he can’t read the atmosphere—he’s practically made of air himself!”

“Pfft! You’re right—that’s hilarious!”

“Quit whining!”

“Just get it over with!”

“We’re tired, so stop wasting our time!”

“Don’t you know when to give up?!”

The boys had joined in at some point. Oyamada was grinning. Then someone stepped out of the crowd and started coming toward me.

It was Yasu Tomohiro…with compassion in his eyes.

“You okay, Mimori?” he said, placing both hands on my shoulders.

“Y-Yasu…”

His eyes narrowed.

“Hold on a second there, Mimori. Listen to what you’re saying.”

“Uh, Wh-what…?” I stuttered.

“It’s Yasu-san. You’re an E-Class, bottom of the heap. I’m an A-Class. Show some respect.” The compassion had drained from Yasu’s eyes, and a new expression was rising—he looked at me like I was scum on the bottom of his shoe, like he knew with total certainty how superior he was.

 

***

 

When was it again?

Oyamada had just beaten Yasu up. I’d happened to see the very end of it—Yasu was on the ground, then Oyamada spat on him and left.

I plucked up the courage to go over. Yasu was covered in mud—I remember thinking that Oyamada had gone too far this time.

“You should really talk to a teacher or somebody higher up about this. Somebody other than Zakurogi.”

He didn’t reply.

“C’mon, I’ll go with you. This is too much, even for Oyamada. I mean, I’m scared of him, too, but I’m also…angry. He can’t keep getting away with this.”

I reached down to him, trying to help him back onto his feet.

“Let’s get this over with, Yasu.”

“Why does it have to be you?” Yasu snapped. He slapped my hand away. “Nobody looks down on me, Mimori! Especially not you!”

“Wh-what…?” I was stunned.

“You think you’re above me?! Screw you! I’m better than you, at least!”

That was when I realized.

I’m air.

I’m an NPC.

I’m not at the top or the bottom—I’m not even on the ladder. Nobody cares if I’m around or not. I’m barely even noticed, just part of the background.

But Yasu wasn’t like me. He was at the bottom of the school pecking order, but he was still very much a part of it, and he never stopped thinking about his place in it.

“You’re not better than me! I don’t need your pity, got it?! It pisses me off! Just go die already, Mimori! Get out of my sight!”

That might have been when I first noticed it.

The hierarchy of everything.

 

***

 

Yasu leaned in close to me.

“It’s just what I expected,” he murmured. “I knew it…I just knew a change was coming, y’know? I knew I was due for a comeback. I was gonna go to a first-rate college, get a job at a top company, and succeed at life—unlike these morons. At least half of them are below me already. They’re short-sighted idiots, oblivious to the bigger picture—get it?”

He’s like a different person…or is this the real Yasu Tomohiro?

I’d only seen this side of him once before.

“Just go die already, Mimori! Get out of my sight!”

Was that the real him?

He continued his murmured tirade.

“Oyamada’s awful, of course, but Kirihara isn’t much better. They’re both so conceited. And all the self-important idiots pretending to be good people—I hope they get sick and die. Only people worth a damn in this class are Ayaka, Hijiri, and Itsuki. The rest of them are all trash. Bottom of the freaking barrel.”

He was even calling the girls by their first names now—I could remember how he used to nervously stammer out “Sogou-san.”

“Aaah…that felt good,” he said in my ear, then he turned his back on me and stepped away with a wave.

“All right, then. Give it your best shot, I guess—you don’t have long to live, trash hero.”

I stood there in silence. Now I understood. Yasu was ecstatic and just needed to tell someone. He couldn’t talk to the rest of the class, but Mimori Touka, E-Class hero, was about to leave forever and then die. Nobody would believe me if I tried to expose him—anything I said would just be the last bitter cries of a loser who couldn’t accept his fate. Yasu had used me as a safe outlet for his gloating.

“What’d you say, Yasu?” Oyamada asked with a sneer.

“I offered to hear his last words,” Yasu said casually, “but it’s no use—he wouldn’t even listen. He’s more hopeless than I thought.”

I just stood there, frozen in place.

Wh-what the hell? What did I do to deserve this…?

None of this made any sense. It was absurd. I felt indignant rage building inside me, ready to erupt.

The Goddess turned her palms toward the magic circle.

“Let us begin the ceremony.”

The ground underneath me started to glow.

It’s no use. Nobody’s coming to save me, and there’s no way this coldhearted Goddess would show me mercy.

The guards surrounding the magic circle readied their bows, and the hooded figures raised their hands in my direction and lowered their heads.

“If you try to escape the magic circle, my guards will kill you.” The Goddess smiled in warning. None of my classmates moved to help me—nobody dared step out of line with armed guards surrounding us, and Kirihara, top of the hierarchy, had practically condemned me himself.

It’s more than just that—who would risk their life to save a background character? Nobody. Who cares if the NPCs die? This is the story of the chosen heroes’ quest to defeat the Demon King. They don’t need Mimori Touka for that.

THUD.

The Goddess threw something at my feet.

“What’s this…? A leather pouch?”

“That,” she said, “is your unique item. When heroes are summoned, a unique magic item appears alongside each of them. That shoddy little pouch is yours.”

I turned the flimsy thing over in my hands.

“My…magic item…”

A restless murmur rose up from class 2-C—this was the first any of us had heard of magic items. But, as usual, the Goddess had an answer prepared.

“Not to worry! While you were still asleep after your summoning, I collected the items from you for safekeeping—they’re waiting for you in the next room. I’m sure they’ll prove extremely effective once you get your hands on them!”

This Goddess…she knew exactly what she was doing. If we’d woken up from summoning with powerful magical items in our hands and decided to rebel, that could have caused problems for her. That’s why she took them away from us—as a precaution.

The Goddess laughed.

“These magic items are just one more reason to love hero summoning! Well, anyway,” she said, her gaze falling back to me and my pouch, “I did try pouring a bit of mana into it, but it seems all your sad little pouch is good for is giving off light.”

“Light?”

“It’s a lamp, I suppose? The ruins are dark, so it should prove useful to you in the very near future. There’s a mana conduit crystal attached to it so you can pour mana into the bag. If you manage to make it up to the surface in one piece, you could sell this and make enough to live on for a while! Wonderful!” The Goddess had her arms stretched wide again as she turned back to the others.

“Did you all witness what just happened here? I offered Too-ka Mimori mercy! Even the lowest of the low should be given a chance! I am a compassionate Goddess, kind even to the weak. I will even stoop to bless an E-Class hero as I dispose of it!”

She turned back to me.

“But the rest of you have no need of my compassion! You are all better than Too-ka Mimori! Each one of you is powerful in your own right!”

The magic circle glowed ever more brightly, and the Goddess’s voice rose with it.

“Every one of you is a hero, but even among heroes, there is an order! I imagine some of you are worried about your rank, or that you aren’t as good as everyone else! Please, have no fear! You have all been chosen! Each one of you is extraordinary! Look! Look at Too-ka Mimori!”

The whole class turned to look at me in unison.

“He is unmistakably a hero as well…but he is different from you! All of you are D-Class or above! You are better than him! You have an innate advantage in this world!”

“Don’t worry. Even the E-Class heroes have a part to play.”

I finally understood what she meant by that.

I’m a sacrifice. The S-Class and A-Class heroes already feel good about themselves, but B- through D-Class were probably feeling inferior and unsure about their average rankings. If somebody like me is below them, though, they’ll always have someone to look down on and feel superior to. They can build themselves up.

“At least I’m better than Mimori Touka. I’m glad I didn’t get sent to the Ruins of Disposal. I’m still here. I’m one of the lucky ones.”

This is the ceremony the Goddess put together for them. One big lie. An illusion. And me as the scapegoat. That’s why she has to make it clear that I’m a hero, too—even among heroes, they’ve been chosen.

“Dammit…”

So this is my “part to play,” huh? There’re probably even worse monsters than that three-eyed wolf in the Ruins of Disposal. All I have are worthless spells and hopeless stats.

I’m going to die.

“Wait, please—!” a voice rang out.

I looked up to see Sogou Ayaka walking determinedly toward the Goddess.

“This is wrong! Mimori Touka is one of our classmates!” she protested.

“Whoa, whoa! Don’t be rude, Sogou!” Zakurogi said, stepping between her and the Goddess.

“You’re our homeroom teacher, Zakurogi-sensei! Get ahold of yourself! It’s your duty to protect the students in your care!”

“Wh-what does that matter now?! You’re a smart girl, why can’t you see the reality of what’s happening?! There’s nothing we can do to help him…” Zakurogi shot back. “A-and it’s Mimori’s fault anyway! He’s an E-Class!”

“He didn’t choose to be an E-Class! Why is everybody okay with this? We can’t let her send him away to the Ruins of Disposal, or—”

“Sogou-san, S-Class, was it?” the Goddess interrupted. “You leave me no choice.”

Her arms dropped, and in an instant she was standing behind Sogou.

“Atemi!”

She brought her hand down swiftly on the back of Sogou’s neck.

“Nh?!”

Sogou turned with a move that looked like it was right out of a fighting manga. Using the momentum from her turn, she parried the Goddess’s hand with her own.

Are those ancient martial arts techniques?

Sogou fell into an impressive fighting stance.

“I won’t be taken down quite that eas—ghhh!”

The Goddess’s fist struck like a hammer into Sogou’s stomach.

“The first blow was a feint. Did you really think that was my main attack?”

“Aah…Nggh…”

Sogou’s eyes went white as she collapsed to the ground and lay motionless.

“S-Sogou…”

I realized I was reaching out toward her. She was just doing her job as class rep, I knew that…but it still meant a lot that she’d tried to help.

At the same time, though, I never felt more pitiful and powerless than I did at that moment.

The Goddess called in a few women to load the unconscious Sogou onto a stretcher and carry her out of the room.

“She is an S-Class hero. Treat her with the utmost care, or I will subject you to a fate worse than death. Understood?”

The women nodded, terrified, and bore Sogou out of the room.

“Let us continue.”

As the Goddess resumed her ceremony, I could hear my 2-C classmates whispering among themselves.

“Sogou-san’s so kind…”

“The Goddess was kinda scary, don’t you think?”

“She took out Sogou-san in one hit…!”

“Even with moves like that, the Goddess can’t beat this Demon King guy?”

“Just how strong is he…?”

Kirihara was scowling. Oyamada had displeasure written all over his face. Even Yasu had his jaw clenched in anger.

“Everyone! Attention, please! Take a good look at this hero before he is disposed of! This is what comes to those without power, the losers and the dropouts! But you, you are the winners! Look at him with pity, and think hard about the terrible fate that awaits him!”

The Goddess urged them on.

Don’t want to end up like him? Get strong. Do your duty to me.

“Screw…you.”

Almost without realizing it, I had my arm raised and pointed at the Goddess. She raised an eyebrow and looked down at me.

“My, my.”

I held my hand out toward her, imitating the movements from when she’d burned the three-eyed wolf to a crisp. Target locked.

“P-paralyze!”

I threw my only weapon at her. I had no idea if it would work. I just…snapped. I had to do something. All my rage was pushed out in that one word.

“That was quite rude of you,” the Goddess said calmly. “Did you really think it would work?”

No effect.

“Aah…” My arm fell limp to my side.

“Let me put this in a way that even an E-Class hero will understand,” the Goddess said with narrowed eyes. “I keep a protective ‘Dispel Bubble’ around me at all times…which makes me completely immune to status effect spells.”

Pity. Contempt.

“And there it is. The loser hero’s final moments.”

The magic circle began to rumble.

I know it’s coming…any moment now I’m going to be teleported.

“Dragonic Buster.”

A sudden surge of white. Light like a thick laser beam shot past me, barely missing my shoulder. I twitched around to see a hole open up in the wall behind me with a massive boom!

“Huh, looks like mine works, though.”

Kirihara had used his unique S-Class skill.

Was he trying to hit me…? I can’t even tell.

“Mimori’s skill was so lame, I wondered if mine was similar. But it looks like it does a lot of damage even when I’m half-assing it. Sorry I broke your wall.”

Kirihara looked down at me with disgusted indifference, like I was a gross stain he couldn’t get out.

“Get out of the way already, E-Class trash.”

“—!”

I know…I can’t expect anybody to go against the Goddess for me. There’s nothing any of you guys can do. But…that’s really the last thing you have to say to me, Kirihara? I’m your classmate, sentenced to death. And that’s it?

“Amazing!” one of the hooded figures exclaimed. “Such power, and at level 1, no less! You’ll be an exciting hero to watch, Kirihara-dono!”

“Huh?” Kirihara said, seeming distracted. “There’s this message saying my skill level went up or something.”

“Unbelievable!” another hooded figure cried. “Leveling up after a single use?! Your stat modifiers are a sight to behold! Nothing like this pathetic E-Class hero!”

The light around me grew stronger and stronger. Time was ticking down. Tears started welling up in my eyes. I clenched my fists hard at my sides.

“What the hell…”

Oyamada started cackling.

“Oh, so the crap hero’s given up already?! Ha ha ha!! That’s karma for you, huh?! Shouldn’t have tried to start somethin’ with me on the bus! It’s a shame I don’t get to watch your miserable ass die, Mimori!”

It wasn’t just tears—all kinds of emotions welled up inside me. Fear…and anger.

“Leave your worldly worries behind and enter into a peaceful sleep, Too-ka Mimori…” the Goddess said with a self-satisfied air.

I raised my head and opened my eyes.

The faces of my classmates were smug and superior, their voices mocking and abusive. They were all against me—well, maybe not everyone, but I had no time or ability to tell between friend and foe. All I saw when I opened my eyes were people looking down on me.

No…not those two. They’re not a part of this.

“What do you think, Aneki?”

“Scum. All of them.”

The Takao sisters swiftly turned on their heels and headed toward the door.

“Let’s go, Itsuki. I understand what the Goddess Vicius is trying to do, but this is all in terribly poor taste.”

“I feel bad for Mimori, but we don’t have the power to stop the Goddess now. So, like, bye! I don’t want to watch, so we’re going to the next room, ’kay?”

“Wh-where do you two think you’re going?!” one of the hooded figures called after them. The Takao sisters ignored him, so the guards started moving in their direction.

“Leave them,” the Goddess ordered.

“But Goddess—!” one of the guards protested.

“I don’t believe it’s wise to force those two to cooperate. They’re S-Class and A-Class heroes, after all. Be careful in your dealings with them…especially the S-Class.”

It’s like nothing ever gets to those two…

The Goddess turned back to me.

“Let’s get this teleportation over with, shall we? Too-ka Mimori, do you have any last words?”

Last words, huh?

I felt it melt away.

The filter I always kept up dissolved, and something I kept locked deep inside—the real Mimori Touka—welled to the surface. I’d been holding him in all this time…I lived toothless, harmless to everyone and everything. Killing myself just to get by.

But I always knew what I was doing, deep down. The real me was always in there somewhere. One side of me tried to be a good person, but the other, more violent side was always about to break free.

I had always kept my real self caged.

“…”

I’m done. Who cares anymore? Things are so bad, and yet…

Looking down, my face twisted into a wild grin.

I started to laugh.

“Screw you, foul Goddess.”

I surprised myself, but it felt…freeing.

My classmates looked shocked. The Goddess was expressionless, thick, dark pools clouding her eyes.

“I kept you in the dark out of compassion, but…if this is how you repay me, I’ve no reason to hold back. I have used the lowest level of the Ruins of Disposal to get rid of many strong yet unsuitable warriors over the years. Not one has emerged alive. I dispatch a scouting party to the ruins’ entrance periodically to check on a secret marker that will show me if anyone has escaped…but that marker has never been activated. No one has ever survived the ruins.”

The Goddess smiled brightly from ear to ear.

“I hope you die in an unsightly and pitiful way, Too-ka Mimori.”

A strong, pale light consumed me.

“Compassion?” I spat. “Yeah, right. You sure didn’t feel like answering my questions earlier.”

I glared at the Goddess—target acquired.

“If I ever make it back alive, you’d better be ready.”

“If you ever make it back? Ha, you’re quite the jester! A last gasp befitting a disposable wretch.”

I felt strange…lightheaded. My sight faded.

I wonder if that foul Goddess can still see me.

Too-ka Mimori, disposable hero…raised his middle finger.